on the tax deal, house republican leaders had political cover from senate republicans. on sandy, chris christie provided the political cover, leaving house leaders, frankly, cowering. now the kotch brothers, through a group they backed, called americans for prosperity, are the latest to give boehner and other house leaders cover on the debt ceiling, as they get their rank and file to pick other political fights. tim phillips, president of americans for prosperity, told the financial times, quote, we're saying calibrate your message, focus on long-term spending instead of long-term debt. focusing on the debt ceiling makes the message more difficult. when i asked walden about the debt ceiling yesterday, he was clearly noncommittal, hinting on where the republican leadership maybe is on this. if there's not a majority in the house republican to raise the debt limit, but there is a majority in the house of representatives to raise a clean debt limit, would this leadership be willing to do that? >> you know, let's look at how do we avoid default on america and american's deb